The interactional effect of high-heeled shoes and a prayer posture on muscle flexibility of young Saudi females : a pilot study

Abstract EN

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate the interactive effect of both high-heeled shoes and a particular prayer posture that incorporate ankle joints on the flexibility of calf muscles of young Saudi females.

Design: Eighty healthy college female students volunteered to participate in the study.

Forty of them were habitual low-heeled shoe wearers (group 1).

Their mean age was 21.7±4.2 years, mean weight 51.4±11.4kg and mean height was 155±9 cm.

The remaining forty subjects (group 2) were habitual high-heeled shoe wearers.

Their mean age was 20.4±5.1 years, mean weight, 52.7±10.2kg and mean height was I55±7 cm.

The index of calf muscles' flexibility was the range of motions (dorsiflection and plantarflection) of the right and left ankle joints as measured with standard goniometer and flexometer.

The measurements taken with both devices were highly correlated (r =0.99).

The data were subjected to one-tailed student t-test statistical analysis with 0.05 chosen as level of significance.

Results: Low-heeled shoe wearers (group 1) have significantly (PO.05) higher dorsiflexion measurements (26.6±4.54 degrees for the right; 26.0±4.49 degrees for the left) at the ankle joints than the high-heeled shoe wearers (group 2) (15.4±5.10 degrees for the right end 14.4±4.42 degrees for the left).

Whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups in respect of plantarflexion measurements (47.8±5.02 degrees for the right ankle and 47.07±5.47 degrees for the left) in group 1 and 48.05±4.86 degrees for the right ankle and 47.7±4.86 for the left ankles in group 2.

Conclusion: The conclusion arrived at was that there existed some degree of tightness in the calf muscles of group 2 subjects.